Canadian Mikael Kingsbury lands second gold at moguls World Cup in China

It was the freestyle skiing star’s 10th straight World Cup moguls title. B.C.’s Andi Naude also collected a bronze medal on Friday.

Quebec's Mikael Kingsbury, shown here in a Feb 2. file photo, was first at the Thaiwoo Ski Resort in China with 83.61 points, boosting his overall World Cup medal total to 45. (Rick Bowmer / THE canadian press file photo)

By The Canadian Press

Fri., Dec. 22, 2017

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA—Canadian freestyle skiing star Mikael Kingsbury captured his 10th straight World Cup moguls title on Friday while Andi Naude of Penticton, B.C., collected a bronze medal in the women’s race for a second day in a row.

Kingsbury, of Deux-Montagnes, Que., was first at the Thaiwoo Ski Resort in China with 85.94 points, boosting his overall World Cup medal total to 45.

Dmitriy Reikherd of Kazakhstan was second with 84.92 while Australia’s Matt Graham was third at 82.96.

Kingsbury, one of Canada’s top medal threats at February’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, has now won all three World Cup events this season — one in Ruka, Finland, and the other two at Thaiwoo.

He said he hasn’t spent much time thinking about his streak of 10 straight wins.

“I’m just trying to ski my best and control whatever I can control and I was able to do that today,” he said. “It’s fantastic to win, especially when my opponents are skiing so well. Dimitriy, Matt, (South Korea’s Jae Woo Choi) and all the others force me to ski at 100 per cent capacity in order to do my best.”

In other Canadian results, Philippe Marquis of Quebec City was 12th, Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que., was 17th, Kerrian Chunlaud of Sainte-Foy Que., was 23rd, Laurent Dumais of Quebec City was 35th, Simon Lemieux of Repentigny, Que., was 52nd and Gabriel Dufresne, also of Repentigny, came in 57th.

The trip to China has not been without its problems for Kingsbury, whose luggage and skis were lost in transit and only showed up the day before training started.

In women’s action, Naude won bronze with 80.03 points, just behind American Jaelin Kauf (80.08) and the winner, Kazakh Yulia Galysheva (80.88).

“I was thrilled to be able to make it on the podium two days in a row and be able to ski six runs that I was really proud of,” said Naude.

Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal finished seventh, Audrey Robichaud of Quebec City was 14th, Alex-Anne Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que., was 22nd, Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal came in 25th and her sister Maxime was 30th.

Justine Dufour-Lapointe fell during training, but emerged with just a few scratches to the face.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version had the wrong point total for Kingsbury.